The invention relates to a tilt handle for an outboard drive unit, such as an outboard engine or the outboard drive portion of an inboard/outboard engine system, for boats, rafts and other marine vessels that permits tilting of the drive unit for easy maintenance and operation by the driver of the outboard drive unit.
One form of an outboard drive unit is attached to the hull of a marine vessel by a clamp bracket and an elongated rearwardly extending swivel bracket pivotally secured to the clamp bracket by a tilt shaft. Such an elongated swivel bracket provides the following advantages: it allows the drive unit to be selectively tilted downwardly into, or upwardly out of, the water through a small tilt angle. In addition, when the drive unit is in the tilted up position, the power head of the drive unit does not intrude into the vessel. Such an elongated swivel bracket also allows the drive unit to be positioned away from the vessel, thereby improving the propulsion efficiency. This type of elongated swivel bracket is normally used on vessels having a high transom such as a sail boat. However, this type of elongated swivel bracket places a substantial distance from the hull when running which makes starting and servicing difficult. Therefore, it is the practice to tilt up the power head of the drive unit for starting and maintenance of the drive unit. This, of course, is difficult with conventional constructions.